Originally Posted by Doppy
You'd get the FF miles by using your regular credit card anyway.
Since AmEx giftcards are issued by AmEx anyway, I'd expect that they'd still come with a 2% fee - if they can be used abroad.
Visa/MC has recently eliminated their forex fees, but the issuing banks charge for it, so I'd expect their giftcards would, as well.
I think I'm not explaining myself very well. I went to the NWA World Perks mall site and used my Hilton AMEX to buy Hard Rock Cafe gift cards denominated in $s. For that I expect to get 3 World Perk miles per $ from NWA and 3 HHonors points per $ from AMEX. I then intend to go to Hard Rocks in Europe and spend the money on the cards hoping that when they translate the bill from Euro's to dollars I get the going exchange rate with no added fees. The payoff will then be saving the 2% AMEX would have charged me if I had just presented the AMEX at the restaurant plus 3 World Perk miles per $ that I wouldn't otherwise get.
What I don't know for sure is will the Hard Rocks in Europe accept these cards? If they do will they give me a favorable exchange rate? If this works out at HRC where else could it possibly work out?